It's Always Time

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Gym bag over my shoulder, drying my hands with a paper towel in the locker room, I asked the man next to me what his secret is. Vascular and pumped, he looked great even when compared to a younger guy likely because he was himself a trainer. His answer was simple, “It’s all about the lifestyle.”

He had been training for twenty-five years, he said, “You can’t fake it!” As a trainer with great attention to detail, I can spot a lifer from afar, someone who eats, sleeps and breathes good health. Even ones who are in the gym as often as me, I can tell if they are on a program or not, if they’re on a strict diet plan or not. It just can’t be hidden, and the truth was written all over this trainer’s physique.

As we walked and talked while leaving the gym, the sincerity of his testimony was voluminous. His day job is at the hospital nearby, and he talked about the epidemic of obesity and the various diseases associated with it that he sees every day. Just as the result of constant exercise and activity is obvious, as is the result of neglecting one’s health.

For those times I would spend a week or two hospitalized because of a Sickle Cell crisis, I took the chance to learn from those loathsome episodes to make better choices. When something worked to benefit my health, I would keep it in rotation until I had a cycle of behaviors that kept me from suffering the effects of this disease.

You may have heard the saying, “Take it one day at a time,” and you may have also heard, “Fail to plan or plan to fail.” Sometimes I’d wonder, well, which one? The true answer, as proven by my lifestyle, is both.

Staying hydrated is the foundation to my health, which is done with the thought of what I’ll need to be hydrated for. Our football (soccer) team is scrimmaging weekly leading up to our season, and in Houston, Texas, it isn’t hot, it’s just August. Passing-out isn’t a useful skill on the pitch, so I practice the opposite; high energy.

I also know what to eat every day to make the most of my workouts, and those workouts need to be designed for specific results down to the finest detail. Doing this over the years has become a lifestyle, one that I am passionately loving every moment of.

Throughout the work week you may see me in business casual attire because at some point in the day, I’m training someone else or training myself. My duffle bag usually has everything required for a fantastic workout no matter the setting or time.

How many people have started a training or fat loss program and never followed through? Far too many. I don’t know the difference between one’s reasons or excuses, so I don’t try and guess. Instead I encourage them to keep their priorities first, whatever they are. But for those who know deep down inside that they haven’t garnered the confidence or willingness to stay the course, I can say that they simply haven’t grasped the concept of the lifestyle.

It’s much like credit. It takes good financial principles and sound decisions to achieve. Every chance you have to swipe your card, every payment you receive, you have the chance to make a choice that leads to financial security or to more risk. Simple as that. Neglecting to budget, not protecting your security and you can squander all that you’ve accomplished having to start over, but not after you have a mess to clean up.

Single parents, parents with multiple children, full-time students and people with multiple jobs and businesses to run are as common as there are people in the world. When you live the life of eating healthy, being active, these other responsibilities fall in place. Having one foot inor straddling the fence gets people to make progress and then lose that progress eventually. There’s no way around it. You have to be completely committed in order to sustain those results.

Living the life, there are always sacrifices to make, but there is always consistency in the effort. Even with disease, mental health issues and ailments of many kind, I speak for every one of us when I say therapy is in the lifestyle of optimal health.

Seeing good health through one’s muscularity, vitality, euphoria, even a pep in one’s step tells me that they are definitely living with the verve. Even as someone with a congenital disease, there’s always something you can do to improve your health, and the results won’t come to stay unless you are all about the lifestyle.